Speech recognition technology provider Nuance Communications has agreed to acquire rival Vlingo. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Vlingo combines voice-to-text technology, natural language processing and the firm’s own Intent Engine to better understand user demands and requests and deliver the most appropriate response. Nuance’s rival Dragon speech recognition software powers search and dictation services spanning Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Research In Motion’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry. In addition, its software is reportedly included in Siri, the new voice-activated control technology integrated into Apple’s iPhone 4S. Nuance and Vlingo previously tangled in court over patent claims.

Nuance credited the Vlingo deal to surging consumer interest in voice-enabled consumer experiences across smartphones, tablets, automobiles, navigation devices and televisions. Nuance adds the two firms will combine their respective technologies and R&D experience to build next-generation natural languages interfaces targeting multiple markets and industries.

The Vlingo deal represents the second major Nuance acquisition during the current quarter. In October, the company scooped up mobile text input solutions firm Swype for $102.5 million. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing states Nuance paid $77.5 million at closing and will fork over the remaining $25 million in 18 months.

To say that RIM has had it rough these past few months is a understatement, but according to a new report from Reuters, it may not have had to go through these trials alone. In a surprising twist, Amazon was reportedly considering a RIM acquisition as recently as this past summer.

According to Reuters, Amazon had tasked an investment bank with exploring the possibility of a RIM buyout, although their sources don’t mention how far both parties were from finalizing a deal. The talks seemed to be largely informal in nature so it may have been nothing more than an open-ended meeting of the minds, but man — what a deal that would’ve been.

The real head-scratcher here is why Amazon would want with RIM in the first place. Analysts from Citigroup predicted last month that an Amazon-branded phone could see the light of day some time next year, and acquiring RIM would certainly give them a platform to work off of. Then again, Amazon made their interest in Android apparent in March when they officially launched their own Android app store, not to mention the fact that they were probably already working on the Android-powered Kindle Fire.

Patents then? RIM holds their fair share of wireless patents many of which could come in handy if Amazon ever chose to pursue a stronger presence in the mobile space. It’s a definite possibility, but with both parties keeping quiet on the subject, we may never know for sure.

Amazon apparently wasn’t the only one floating the notion of a RIM acquisition: Reuters mentions that bankers have tried to convince HTC and Samsung to make a move, although they made the obvious choice to ignore their ailing competitor.

Now it appears that RIM is looking to brave the market alone once again, as the company’s board has told co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis to forget the idea of selling parts of the business. The company also seems to have begun a campaign of bright-eyed optimism in an attempt to convince people that the best is yet to come. Their most recent quarterly financials were filled with such bright-eyed gems as “we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths,” and the company’s pair of CEOs announced shortly afterward that they would reduce their salaries to $1 per year.

Whether or not these maneuvers are enough to ease shareholder concerns is still up in the air, though a quick look at their stock performance shows that it doesn’t seem to be working so far. With share prices plummeting and the release of their next-gen BlackBerry 10 devices being pushed later into 2012, I can’t help but wonder if RIM regrets rebuffing Amazon’s advances.

[This week we're launching the biggest survey on cross-platform developer tools. The results will be available as a free report in Q1 2012. This report will address a segment that is rapidly developing as a convergence of factors has created both opportunity and demand for cross platform solutions.]

With VisionMobile estimating that each app on the Apple App store represents an average investment of US$30,000 to develop, the attraction of tools that help developers target additional platforms with minimal additional investment are obvious. As regular updates to platforms can effect functionality in existing apps, it is not just cross platform development but cross platform app management that can tax the resources of many a developer and brings the need for cross platform solutions to the fore.

(more…)

Via: Cnet & Source: Gartner

Microsoft’s Windows Phone is a pretty neat OS and analysts predict that by 2015, Windows Phone would be among major market share holder in smartphone category.

We knew that Windows Phone sales are a bit disappointing and then  LG’s Marketing Strategy and Planning Team Director said bluntly that Windows Phone is boring. But how boring really? According to research firm , Gartner, Microsoft’s Windows Phone market share has slipped even below 2 percent. Even Samsung’s homebrewed OS Bada has managed to gain more market share than Microsoft’s Windows Phone. At 1.9% market share, Bada is above Windows Phone’s 1.6% market share.

This questions Nokia’s decision to go all way Windows Phone. But if rumors are to be believed that Microsoft will be releasing Tango update for low end phones that Nokia plans to bring in market, Windows Phone does have a hope to conquer a few more percents. But having said that, Samsung’s Bada OS is one of the most polished OS I have seen considering it’s age.

This is from techknots.com

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop:
Nokia’s Windows Phone devices flop

Stephen Elop

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) CEO Stephen Elop  last week unveiled the company’s first smartphones running Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone platform, the opening gambit in whether Nokia’s bet on the new software will help revive its flagging fortunes. The Lumia 800 and 710 will be available in November in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, with support from 31 operators and retail partners. By the end of the year, both devices will be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan.

For the United States, Nokia did not announce any specific products, but Elop said a portfolio of devices will be coming in early 2012, meaning Nokia will miss the crucial holiday shopping season for the U.S. market. There are lots of unknowns in this gambit: Will Nokia’s Windows Phone devices be differentiated enough from those from HTC, LG and Samsung? Will consumers warm to Nokia’s brand, which has taken a beating in recent years, especially in North America? How will Nokia break through with carriers and retail sales representatives, two crucial constituencies? The pressure is on Elop and Nokia to deliver. If they don’t, Nokia might not last.

Sony has reportedly announced that it will acquire Ericsson’s stake of 50 percent in mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson for $1.46 billion. Consequently, Sony Ericsson will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony and will be integrated into the company’s platform of network-connected consumer electronics products.

As per sources, Hans Vestberg, CEO, Ericsson said that when the joint venture was formed ten years ago, thereby combining Sony’s consumer products knowledge with Ericsson’s telecommunication technology expertise, it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones. However, today they take an equally logical step as Sony acquires their stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices.

Sony President, Chairman, and CEO, Howard Stringer has reportedly said that this acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want. Further, Ericsson reportedly plans to focus on the global wireless market as a whole as well as how wireless connectivity can benefit people, business and society beyond just phones. The agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in January 2012.  According to reports, the transaction also includes a patent deal enabling Sony to receive the five sets of patents that are essential to making the phones and a licensing agreement on any other intellectual property.

Reports suggest that shares in Ericsson rose by 5.1 percent to $10.7, while Sony’s share price rose 5.4 percent to $21.7 at the time of closing.

Yahoo expanded its mobile presence today to include mobile messaging. The company debuted a beta version of Hub, a free device-agnostic texting app available through Google’s Android Market.

Unlike Apple’s iMessage or Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Messenger, Hub users can text contacts using any carrier or device, even feature phones. In addition, contacts receiving messages are not required to have the app themselves. iMessage and BlackBerry Messenger only work among users of those services.

Hub messages are sent over Wi-Fi or data connections, and users will not incur traditional texting fees regardless of how many messages they send. Hub offers group messaging, instant notifications and free local and international messaging to select countries.
Hub users must have a device running Android 2.2 or above, a U.S. SIM card and a texting plan.

Yahoo is one of many entering the field for mobile messaging. In August, Facebook revealed its own free texting app, Messenger. The app allows users to message Facebook friends in real-time and is available for devices running iOS, Android or BlackBerry. And earlier this year Microsoft’s Skype acquired group messaging solutions startup GroupMe, and device maker Samsung Electronics launched ChatON, a carrier-agnostic mobile messaging app.

The move toward application-based texting, highlighted by Yahoo’s new Hub, likely will cut into wireless carriers’ SMS revenues as more and more users sign on to such services. Chetan Sharma, from Chetan Sharm Consulting, said in a new report that the United States unseated Philippines as the king of text messaging with almost 664 messages per subscriber per month, compared with the Philippines which is seeing a sharp decline in per user messaging due to IP messaging. He said some of the European operators are also experiencing the pain of declining SMS usage. But analysts have pointed out that any reduction in SMS revenues (most wireless carriers charge 10 cents per SMS) will be more than offset by increases in carriers’ data revenues.

While voice control has been part of Android since the dawn of time, Siri came along and ruined the fun with its superior search and understanding capabilities. However, an industrious team of folks from Dexetra.com, led by Narayan Babu, built a Siri-alike in just 8 hours during a hackathon.

Iris allows you to search on various subjects including conversions, art, literature, history, and biology. You can ask it “What is a fish?” and it will reply with a paragraph from Wikipedia focusing on our finned friends.

The app will soon be available soon from the Android Marketplace but I tried it recently and found it a bit sparse but quite cool. It uses Android’s speech-to-text functions to understand basic questions and Narayan and his buddies are improving the app all the time.
The coolest thing? The finished the app in eight hours.

When we started seeing results, everyone got excited and started a high speed coding race. In no time, we added Voice input, Text-to-speech, also a lot of hueristic humor into Iris. Not until late evening we decided on the name “iris.”, which would be Siri in reverse. And we also reverse engineered a crazy expansion – Intelligent Rival Imitator of Siri. We were still in the fun mode, but when we started using it the results were actually good, really good.

You can grab the early, early beta APK here but I recommend waiting for the official version to arrive this week. It just goes to show you that amazing things can pop up everywhere.

Google has launched a new resource page : http://www.ourmobileplanet.com/ There are many cool features but what is best is that all of this info is at our fingertips.

Whether you are creating a business plan, writing an article or planning a new mobile strategy these figures and tools are going to be useful. Bravo Google.